Tribalism and Faith

Where does Tribalism come from and what is the Christian response?

The word "tribalism" seems to have a bad connotation, but what's the problem? In many circumstances, tribalism has been good. In a way, our love of groups, our passion for our favorite sports teams, even normal patriotism are all forms of healthy tribalism. Native Americans lived and still live for the most part in tribes. The Hebrew nation organized themselves into 12 tribes with God's blessing. Historically, within various tribes all over the world, people were and are protected, cared for and they flourish. However, part of the instinct to protect in tribalism seems to produce an attitude of trusting only those similar to those in the "tribe," leading to high levels of distrust toward people who are different.

So tribalism seems to be just a natural instinct, but when it's carried to an extreme, it becomes dangerous, especially, in our current society where we have a vast array of people from many different cultures coming together. Extreme tribalism is fueling high rates of antisemitism, racism, fear of foreigners and fear of gays to the point of causing major unrest in our country.

In these circumstances, the natural instinct of tribalism has become an out of control sin. Let's compare simple tribalism to normal self centeredness that we are born with. As babies we naturally think of ourselves first, but as we grow up, we learn to set aside too much self centeredness, as we come to realize there are benefits to being sociable.

As Christians, we recognize selfishness as sin against God. The Apostle Paul talks about his struggles over doing what he wants and what God wants. He talks about the flesh, sometimes called the carnal man or the natural person as being opposed to the spiritual person who chooses God's way over the desires of the natural man. I believe this tendency to be suspicious towards anyone different is a natural instinct, but part of that natural, carnal person, one descended from Adam who fell from grace in the garden. We recognize that God through Jesus' death brings us out of sin and selfishness, including extreme tribalism, into a place of loving and valuing all people, no matter how different. We need to recognize that the common tendency to be critical and judgmental toward anything that is different from our perceived norm is akin to extreme tribalism and is sin. It's not what God wants from any us.

Most Americans agree we should accept people of different races and cultures, but there is a significant segment of people who have a very hard time with it. As Christians, we can encourage our churches, schools and communities to be open and accepting of people, the way they worship, how they dress, wear their hair, the language they speak, their sexual orientation and their mental health. God's love reaches to all people and we need to demonstrate it!